The Nation Newspaper

Tag: habits

  • Seven habits that make people respect you

    Seven habits that make people respect you

    Respect is a fascinating thing. It’s not something you can demand, it’s earned.

    And believe it or not, there are small habits you can adopt that can really turn the tides in your favor.

    But gaining true respect takes more than just talking a big game. It requires walking the walk through small, consistent actions that demonstrate your character.

    You want people to look up and take notice when you speak. You want them to really listen and think, follow these steps.

    here are the 7 small Habits that make people respect you

    1. Show up on time

    But it is a fact that consistently showing up on time signals reliability.

    People will assume “this person respects my time” if you always roll in right on the dot. It makes you seem trustworthy and organized.

    So set alarms, plan ahead, and make it a rule to hit your marks with a few minutes to spare. Those extra minutes can work magic! Your new timely habits will say “my time matters and so does yours.”

    2. Always strive to do better

    You never want to find yourself “settling for the lowest common denominator,” Instead, you should always be searching for a better way to do your work.

    3. Admit to your mistakes

    Regardless of your position at your company, it’s crucial to take ownership of your work — and your missteps. Don’t “make excuses for things when something’s gone off the rails,”

    4. Being reliable

    Reliability is a cornerstone of respect. When you say you’ll do something and follow through, people notice. And when you consistently show up and deliver, it’s a powerful way to earn respect.

    Read Also: Little habits that enhance annual cholera recurrence

    If you commit to something, make sure you do it. Whether it’s showing up on time for a meeting, completing a task by the deadline, or fulfilling a personal promise to a friend, make sure you follow through.

    5. Showing gratitude

    Gratitude is a simple yet powerful habit that can instantly make people respect you.

    It’s about acknowledging the good in your life and the efforts of others. By expressing gratitude, you show appreciation and respect for the people around you.

    But how to make it practical? Start with saying “thank you” more often. Whether it’s for a job well done, a kind gesture from a friend, or something as simple as someone holding the door open for you – acknowledge it.

    6. Respecting others

    A simple yet profound way to earn respect is by showing it to others. As the old adage goes, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

    Treating everyone with respect, regardless of their status or position, shows that you value all people equally. It’s a powerful way to earn respect because respect begets respect.

    Make it a habit to show genuine respect to everyone you interact with. Listen to their ideas, value their contributions, and treat them with kindness and courtesy.

    You’ll find that when you give respect freely, it often comes back to you tenfold.

    7. Keeping your promises

    Keeping your promises may seem like a basic concept, but it’s a habit that can significantly impact how much people respect you.

    When you make a promise, you’re giving your word, and following through on that word shows others that you’re trustworthy and dependable.

    The practical aspect of this is straightforward: if you say you’re going to do something, do it. If circumstances change and you can’t fulfill your promise, communicate this as soon as possible and make amends where necessary.

  • Business success habits for SMEs (Part 4)

    1. Good Internal Control System:

    Every business that wants to succeed must institute a good internal control system.

    Some of the areas that must be covered include:

    • Good inventory management system. There must be proper stock records, regular stock taking and re-order level.
    • Division of labour and segregation of duties.
    • Financial control as it relates to banking of transactions, expenses policy and approval principle.
    • Operational policy as per hours of business, production policy, employment policy etc.
    1. Human Resource Management:

    All SMEs in respective of size must have a good Human Resource Policy in place.

    This will cover all staffing issues such as:

    • Key staff and their roles
    • Necessary skills and experience for each position.
    • Staff handbook
    • Job description and job analysis
    • Succession planning etc.
    1. Staff Meeting:

    Regular staff meeting preferably weekly must be in place for every organization. This forum will enable staff to formally contribute to the growth of the business. It also gives staff sense of belonging and help management to resolve issues early enough.

    The above habits are very important for SMEs to enhance their growth and also to build lasting businesses.

     

    Mr Tomi Omojuwa

    Managing Consultant

    Pathlead Consulting

    tomiomojuwa@gmail.com

  • Eight habits that harm your brain

    Eight habits that harm your brain

    It’s funny that “the one organ in our brain that thinks is often the one we think less about”. The brain is the most important organ in our body and it’s time we pay more attention to its health and welfare. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 8 habits that harm your brain.

    Not Sleeping Well

    Lack of proper sleep is a bad habit that can significantly hurt your brain. It negatively affects the hippocampus causing a deficit that leads to forgetfulness.

    Having Too Much Time to Yourself

    Alone time can be great for thinking, reflection and mapping out your dreams and goals. However, when the solitude is too much it can damage the mind and body. It can typically cause brain decline, affect the quality and efficiency of sleep making it less restorative, erode arteries, create high blood pressure, undermine learning and memory and generally take a toll on health; although, most of these effects are gradual and experienced over the course of time.

    Eating Too Much Junk Food

    Regardless of the fact that you are the kind of person that can eat whatever you like and remain in shape, it is important not be excessive in your intake of junk foods. This is because parts of brain linked to learning, memory and mental health are smaller and less developed in people who excessively consume junk foods. Natural foods like berries, whole grains, nuts, green leafy vegetables preserve the brain function and slow mental decline.

    You Play Loud Music with Earphones or Headphones

    Placing the volume of your earphone or headphone at full volume can permanently damage your hearing. It can also cause brain problems involving loss of memory or inability to remember things easily, and loss of brain tissue in your later years. This is most likely because the brain has to work so hard to understand what’s being said around you that it can hardly store what you’ve heard into your memory.

    Immobility

    The body was made to move and the longer you remain unmoving and inactive the more likely you are to suffer from diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, dementia and high blood pressure which can all negatively affect the brain in the long run. You don’t have to start high intensity workouts or start running marathons, just take a walk around your house more often or engage in an activity that gets you moving.

    Smoking

    At this point, it has already been established that smoking is bad for your body. Aside causing lung problems, smoking also shrinks the brain. It makes your memory worse, makes you more forgetful and leads to problems like heart disease, dementia, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, lung cancer etc.

    Overeating

    We are familiar with the saying, “too much of anything is bad”. Too much food, even of the right and healthy kind of food, can hinder the brain from building up a strong network of connections to help you think and remember. Overeating can also lead to obesity which is linked to a number of brain problems like food addiction, impulsive and disinhibited eating and in some cases cognitive problems.

    Staying Indoor or In the Dark for Prolonged Periods

    For the optimum health of the brain, it is important you expose yourself to natural light as often as you can. This helps to prevent depression and keep your brain working well. Staying in the dark or without natural light for prolonged periods, can slow your brain and cause a decline in the brain.

     

  • Breaking the Habit!

    Breaking the Habit!

    Change is critical and I think it is change that defines whether a particular object is dead or alive. Everything we do and what we do not do is only but a matter of change—a change of minds (disparity of minds) — this makes sure change is of every type, regional, demographic, physical, emotional, physiological and yes—global—the whole world can change too! Everything changes everybody and everybody changes everything!

    Precisely, I don’t know what to describe here but I have been a chain smoker for several years and I have quit successfully. That’s not all. Addiction to nicotine is often classified to be similar to heroin addiction—to the subject it seems impossible to quit, and for most it actually turns out to be impossible and they quit only when they are dead of it! Let’s be clear about this one, this is not an advisory or a quit smoking campaign, this is precisely about breaking a habit so deeply ingrained that it had become a life habit—what it takes to break such a habit and how it changes the overall framework of your life.

    Rumi said you can conquer the universe and there is only one way of doing so: you have to conquer your own self! You take charge of yourself and you are in charge of everything else.

    Habit – change is how good a cycle life is, and successful people live their lives on the dashes I have put between habit and change in the beginning of this sentence. Reinventing ourselves everyday makes us like those little kids who are always happy about what comes to them and what they give back. Being fond of children, I can understand our inability to enjoy simple things that children relish—plain simple moments!

    This causerie is my memento engraved on the tombstone of my life as a nicotine addict and a souvenir dedicated to all those who seek to reinvent themselves every moment. Everything that kills me makes me feel alive, or that is how life is, stagnant in operation and fluidic in design.

    Cupidity, they say, is the launch-pad of human life, where a pie is sought and then a cookie and then a biscuit and then everything after everything else until it all ends with the end of life itself!

    We get muzzled into an environment that defines everything for and leaves us to only falling in line with it; I would rather pray to God that I be counting stars than money! I would disturb anyone’s comfort zone any further, but a wink to the crazy fellows, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers.

    Talking of habits, it is purely the volitional habit of a physician who grabs his patient’s wrist and seeks to measure his pulse while his patient may be complaining of a skin disease. The doctor’s habit here is a peculiar manner which his consciousness bumps into during the course of interaction with his patient. It is not the peculiar consciousness proportionate to the diagnosis rather it is that particular setting which consciousness itself takes, as opposed to the process that makes it up. The habit itself lies separate from the consciousness, implying something we get used to. This ability or quality of getting used to is conclusive and can easily be used in our favor or so I did.

    In a place called real life, what we do is what we do most of the time, try to define business and it renders as a process of profit making done repetitively. Habits in a similar disposition are saved responses to past situations or stimuli, if you like. Here the point is what actually triggers a response that is so closely knitted with a past response, a performance, an equation, a point, or a terrible situation as horrible as nicotine craving which in my case used to be a cycle consuming my money and myself all alike.

    A particular context activates a habitual response, without the facilitation of the objective itself. The point of undeniability is what I want to put across here, taking full responsibility for whatever we are or whatever trouble we are into. It is not having a broad chest after doing a savage act; it simply is when you blame something other than yourself for the circumstances that you knock into and experience the bad times.

    If you blame something other than yourself then you are giving the control of your life to what you blame. Everything that happens to you is all a matter of what you do, what you choose to do. I don’t want to inspire anyone here; this is something of an experience I am sharing! I thought it was worth it so I did. Quit the blame game that we all play, he did it to me, she did it, my parents did and every person in this world quit this and I found what I needed. Back to cupidity—I need a hell lot more.

     

    Arooj, writes from Legal Studies Central University of Kashmir

     

  • Injurious habits that must be discouraged

    Habits tend to be developed, these habits are often difficult to shake off, whilst a considerable number of these habits are relatively harmless from the health and indeed, oral health point of view. However some if continued over a period of time may become harmful and could easily be initially avoided.

    • Breaking hard objects /crushing iced cubes /opening bottle corks /wine bottle corks/unsrewing bolts with the teeth.

    Human teeth though relatively strong and having similar physical and chemical properties with the bone in the body is not designed to be used in the fashion as enumerated.

    Iced cube crushing and eating is common amongst children. This can result in the tooth getting fractured and excruciating pain needing either an extraction of the tooth or extensive restorative work on the tooth.

    •Piercing the tongue and or lip/tattoing the tongue or lip/ scarification of the oral cavity either cutting notches in the tongue , shaping it out to form a forked tongue/ any other means of scarifications.

    The use of studs rings and other ornaments to pierce the lips, tongue, cheek and other parts of the oral cavity was fashionable for many years past in most of Europe and the north Americas. The practise was commonest in the members of the hip-hop music , entertainment industry, sports personalities and others in the public glare often practiced this habit which is to be highly discouraged. Like every copied fad, it has arrived in Nigeria and similarly copied by the music industry , movie industry, wannabe celebrities etc.

    From a personally perspective it is a highly offensive habit as I often ask proponents to mention one responsible person who has piercing and sags their trousers or dresses indecently and they have always come short of words, some professionals typically frown at these kind of habits.

    I will point to the health hazards oral health-wise. There is the danger of infection and risk of blood borne diseases, with infected needle , it is possible to contract HIV, Hepatitis and several infections. It is pertinent for tattoo parlours to imbibe the principle of infection control , this is because people will have tattoos and piercing anyway but the essence of the article is so they make an informed choice. Smoking caries a warning on the label of the hazards of smoking, people will still smoke anyway, but they cannot claim ignorance should they develop any problems as arising from smoking.

    The infections could be fatal or life threatening.

    There is the added risk of bleeding when the blood vessels are damaged, the tattooist or the piercing parlour is not equipped to deal with bleeding or haemorrhage. Physical injuries may result as these studs , rings and other accessories could act as missiles and further traumatise the oral structures causing pain etc. It definitely is not clever way to advertise oneself or attract attention.

    •Involvement in contact sports without protective gear.

    The bones of the oral and maxillofacial complex are vulnerable to fracture and damage in contact sports such as boxing , wrestling , karate, kick boxing, taekwondo, judo, hockey, ice-hockey and honestly just about any sport these days as fist-cuffs occur quite easily.

    The most readily forms of protection for the head and neck region are headgears, mouth-guards, face-masks, gum shields, face-protector, throat-guards as seen ice-hockey.

    These protective gear are either generic or custom made to fit individuals, all sorts of pimping can be done to the custom made ones . They can be engraved with names , colour coded just like football boots are colour coded these days against jerseys as against the traditional black boots. This personalisation brings the game to another level.

    These items protect the face and structures of the oral facial complex from injuries and fractures.

    Parents have a duty to ensure if they have wards or children participating in contact sports make available and insist on the use of protective gear as stated above.

    Similarly adults should ensure they procure protective gear when they engage in contact sports. Sports governing bodies should ensure compulsory/mandatory use of protective gear in their respective sports.

    The decision whereby professional boxers do not make us of protective headgear is to be discouraged, the amateur boxers do use. Boxing has had its fair share of fatalities from head injuries.

    The famous Mohammed Ali once had his jaw fractured in a fight, his first loss to another boxer Ken Norton.

    Football should make the use of gum-shields and mouth-gaurds compulsory likewise.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    4. USING THE MOUTH TO SIPHON PETROL OR MORE LIKE A PUMP.

     

    The perennial scarcity of fuel artificial or real though not so common in recent times plus the inconsistency of power supply has often necessitated the use of jerry cans or container to obtain petrol and petroleum products. The mouth is used in a form of negative pressure to suck the fuel into the vehicles or the tanks of power generating sets through a piped hose. In the process many times fuel and whatever petrol products , diesel kerosene is swallowed. The habit is common amongst road side vehicle mechanics and other artisans who use petrol and petroleum products.

    Petrol and petroleum products contain a lot of toxic substances, some cancer causing others items like lead have toxic effects on body tissues and organs.

    These practices are to be discouraged, there are funnels and mechanical siphons in the market which will make fuel transfer if necessary.

    5. THUMB SUCKING, LIP/CHEEK-BITING, TONGUE THRUSTING

     

    Thumb-sucking is a habit that can over time have serious oral consequences seen both in children and adults. It can cause protrusion of the teeth, in Yoruba ‘eleyin shamuga’. (mal-occlusion).This affects function of the individual and also his profile. The lips may become incompetent and not close properly. Cheek biting on the other hand may lead to inflammation, pain and discomfort.

     

    6. ELECTRICIANS USING TEETH TO PRISE PLASTICS COVERING WIRE CABLES.

     

    The use of teeth to prise wire cables from the plastic coating the copper or aluminium wires inside. This habit is common amongst artisans like electricians who work with copper cables. These habits are to be discouraged as it may cause injuries from the copper cables to the oral cavity. Sports whereby the teeth are used to lift or pull items are also to be discouraged.

     

    7. THE USE OF TOOTHPICKS. SAFETY PINS TO PICK TEETH

     

    The use of tooth picks (wooden) to remove food debris between the teeth creating spaces literarily called pockets. The food that gets impacted within these teeth pockets irritate the teeth making the gums recede. The use of tooth-picks are to be discouraged, dental floss should be used to remove food debris between teeth they are available at pharmacies and chemists. They can also be obtained at your dentist surgery. The dentist should be able to advise you on how to use. The debris can also be removed using inter-dental brushes and plastic tooth-picks designed by dentists.

     

    8. EATING GRITTY AND DANGEROUS ITEMS LIKE SAND AND SHARP ITEMS LIKE GRASS.

     

    There is no health benefit in these actions and they may rather cause injury to the oral tissues and structures.

     

     

    9. SHARING TOOTHBRUSHES

    This is to be discouraged as many communicable diseases could be transferred from one individual to the other. It is unhygienic to say the least.

     

    10. ALLOWING BABIES TO SLEEP WITH FEEDING BOTTLES AND SWEET CONTAINING COMFORTERS

     

    The present state of the society where both parents have to go to work on a daily basis, the pressure of day cares and baby- sitting becomes chronic. A substantial part of society especially mothers find it easy to multitask and in the process children may suffer nutritionally, close quarter attention is not given to children in general they are made to watch television cartoons with feeding bottle in their mouth or comforters laced with sugar and sweeteners. The close extended family being not close by or available for baby-sitting duties . The daycares and nursery have also gotten on the band wagon. Daycares have also been accused of sedating crying babies. The use of feeding bottles for long periods increases the risk of dental decay , feeding bottle caries as it is known. It affects the upper teeth, it is certainly criminal to engage in these acts. The feeding formula milk contains sugar and as well easily causes dental caries, the chances of tooth decay increases increases with duration of exposure to the sugar containing milk.

    The list of habits that need be discouraged is by no means exhaustive , a follow up will be done in due course. See you next week.

     

  • June 12: Old habits die hard

    June 12: Old habits die hard

    June 12, 1993, about 14 million Nigerians trooped out to cast their ballots in what became the watershed as the freest and fairest elections in the nation’s electoral history. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, the business mogul Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, received over 8 million votes, and won in 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory. His National Republican Convention (NRC) counterpart, Alhaji Bashir Tofa got over six million votes and won in only 10 states. The SDP candidate’s victory was resoundingly comprehensive as he clinched almost 60% of the total votes cast. Only in two states of Kebbi and Sokoto did Abiola fail to obtain at least one-third of the votes.

    That was the result before the June 16, 1993 order by the Abuja High Court suspending further announcement of the results. The order was of course as good as superfluous given that the result, under the existing rules, was already available to the world. We know what happened later: the election was annulled by the Ibrahim Babangida junta.

    The intendment of the annulment was in effect, to deny that the exercise, in which more than 14 million citizens freely exercised their franchise, never really took place! The description of the criminal annulment as a military wonder of procuring an abortion after the arrival of the baby could not be more apt!

    But then, no less revealing is the attitude of a section of the political class. Some actually insisted that the election, in which they freely took part, could not have been valid mainly on the strength of a spurious judgment procured at midnight! Losers on their part would not even find the grace to concede victory to the winner just as some would threaten to bring the roof down should the result of the non-controversial election be recognised. In the end, the pan Nigerian mandate was effectively scuttled. As they say, the rest is history.

    But then, we are talking of an event that took place two decades ago. How well has the nation fared 14 years into the so-called democratic journey? No doubt, its quest for democratic consolidation has been a mixed bag. Whereas the experience has ranged from the outright confounding to the ridiculous, the nation can at least point to one major blessing that the democratic order, with all its dysfunctions, is at least theoretically, still in place!

    Now, let’s go back. Twenty years ago, the nation had what one might call, a passable electoral process. Warts and all, the Modified Open Ballot system – better known as Option A4, at least guaranteed some degree of credibility to the process. The requirement was simple. Voter registration was elaborate. Accreditation of voters, although tedious and cumbersome was at least open and transparent. The collation process, although fraught with some challenges, was generally seen as credible and reliable.

    What do we have today? If in 1999, the process was passable, subsequent years have been an exercise in steady regression. If citizens thought that no election could be worse than that of 2003, they could not have imagined what became of the 2007 elections. In the South-west, it actually took the active intervention by the judiciary to return to the winners what the electoral robbers had stolen as we saw in Ekiti and Osun states! And the source of the trouble: the electoral machine that turned losers into winners and vice versa.

    That was the background which informed citizens’ faith in the Attahiru Jega-led INEC. And what did we get? At best a distinction without a difference. Today, Nigerians can’t even be sure that any system let alone a fool-proof one is in place. Despite the song made by the electoral umpire about deploying modern technology to its activities, the last exercise ended in utter disappointment, unfortunately, for an exercise that the nation had invested so much faith and resources. In the end, not only was the outcome suspect, all the promises of an error-free, biometric system simply disappeared with the wind.

    But then, the problem with the political system isn’t always that of the architecture of the elections. It seems to me that we have a greater challenge to deal with in the attitude of the players in our electoral politics. It starts with their basic understanding of political concepts and extends to their disdain for the rule of the game. In 1993, a section of political players would insist on not making the distinction between the military-ordered cancellation of party primaries and the annulment of a national election. It’s like not finding the difference between the candidate that was prevented from writing an exam and another that sat and passed for an exam but for which the examiner would nonetheless insist never held!

    Again, that was 1993. It is a measure of the regression of our national politics that the same old daemon of delinquency is back. Evidence: May 2013, a so-called “consensus arrangement” among players is deemed as superior to an election in which parties willingly took part, and of which the result would run contrary to their expectations of their ‘consensus’. And that is an election in which only 35 voted!

    One is talking here of the Nigerian Governors Forum election of May 24 which Rotimi Amaechi, the Rivers State governor won with 19 votes, but which the consensus group now claims that their man, Jonah Jang won with 16. I watched Olusegun Mimiko, the Ondo state governor struggle to make the case that the election held against the grain of expectation. Did he say that the election did not take place? No, he didn’t – only that the incumbent ought to have stepped down in deference to their rules. Did he vote? Was his vote among the 35 counted? At this time, it’s even pointless to talk about bad losers who instead of accepting defeat gracefully would rather invoke God as if He, and not them, scripted the confusion.

    Where is the nation headed? It’s not difficult to tell. Let me however make this point: the virus of political delinquency would kill this democracy faster than anyone might ever think. The point is – it’s easier to fix the bolts and the nuts of the electoral machine than one would deal with the delinquency virus. What delinquency does is gnaw slowly away at the soul of the democratic spirit. Now, tell me, whoever heard of a being without the spirit?

     

  • Kill these driving habits

    Kill these driving habits

    Habits once formed are in most cases very difficult to drop. In this write up, I want to talk about the driving habits that must be dropped and detested by all categories of drivers in Nigeria (including vehicle owners).

    •Restlessness :Some drivers are so friendly with impatience that they cannot stay on the queue or in traffic when there is traffic Snarl. They move from one lane to another in a bid to beat the traffic. Drivers must be patient and show sanity on Nigeria roads.

    •Drunk driving :Alcoholism and drug addiction are great enemies of driving. They work on the human brain thereby creating effects such as slow reaction time, wrong judgement, blurred vision and aggressiveness among others.

    •Distraction: Drivers must avoid every act of distraction such as making or receiving calls, texting, eating, drinking, smoking, making up, shaving, etc.

    •Tailgaiting: Inadequate following distance is very dangerous. Under normal driving environment, you should apply the two – second rule but on wet roads, you should increase it to four – seconds. Following too closely is the main cause of multiple accidents.

    •Dangerous:Overtaking vertaking wrongly is dangerous and has become a major cause of road crashes in Nigeria. Before you commence the overtaking process, you must ask whether it is necessary, whether it is safe and whether it can be done without violating the speed limit rule.

    •Poor lane management:Many drivers (private and commercial) don’t know how to keep their vehicles in lane when driving. Your vehicle should always be positioned at the middle of the lane without trespassing to the next lane except when overtaking.

    •Overspeeding:Some drivers are already addicted to overspeeding even on bad roads. This is also another major cause of accidents on roads. Other bad habits formed by some drivers include wrong lane formation, driving off – lane (driving on road shoulder), driving without seat belt, speeding at traffic lights to beat the red light, vehicle overloading, driving with underage children sitting at the front, speeding on wet road, disobedient to traffic officers and driving against traffic among others.

    According to an adage, the best way to break a plate is to drop it. To break the above dangerous driving habits, drivers must drop then without delay. Dropping the above habits by all the drivers concerned will promote sanity and safety on Nigeria roads.